Turquoise, Garnet and Amber Necklace

More Scrap Designing

A scrap top made from thrift store finds.

Random pieces of silk.

Random Discharge Stencils

Blue silk with random commercial and self-designed stencils. Shirt is self-drafted.

No Designing Needed With This Beautiful Panel Print

Vest with Woven Fabric Strips

First a fabric is woven using 1/2 inch strips of fabric and ribbon and trim. It is backed with light weight interfacing and stitched to reinforce.

Detail of woven fabric.

Fabric is cut randomly.

Solid black fabric is placed behind each random piece for accent.

Pieces are arranged on dark grey denim vest and small squares of orange are added for additional accent.     

Detail. Each piece is appliqued using a wide zig zag stitch.

Finished 

Designing a T Shirt with Multiple Fabrics

There are many reasons for using more than one fabric in a garment. If you have never combined fabrics before here are some reasons to do so.

• Garment is more interesting and unique
• Challenges your creativity
• Challenges your sewing ability
• Keeps boredom out of your sewing
• Uses up leftover fabric
• Gives you a signature look
• Discover new color and pattern combinations
• Some prints are too strong to use by themselves

There are many ways to approach designing with multiple fabrics. Once you become familiar with the different approaches to designing with different fabrics you will move freely from one approach to another. No one approach is better than another. All are equal and can be combined for maximum creativity. 

Before you begin you need some fabric to work with. This is the beginning of the design phase and how you acquire the fabric is part of the design process. You should have some big scraps in your stash that are not really big enough to make a full T shirt but just too pretty throw away. This is an opportunity to look at the color ways that you have been following for awhile. If you don't see any color patterns emerging from your scraps it may mean you don't have enough scraps or you are too eclectic in choosing your colors. Just keep collecting and saving fabric.

While you are building a workable stash you can purchase coordinating fabrics. It is not too difficult to find two fabric that go together but finding three or more can be challenging. One way to get around this is to add a solid, a strip, or polka dot fabric. Solids, stripes, and dots are wonderful bridging fabrics. Often a first attempt is a beautiful print for the body and black or other dark color for the sleeves.

How much fabric should you buy? For a T shirt from one piece of fabric I buy 1 1/2 yards because I always make long sleeves and sometimes make a shirt a bit longer than normal. 1 1/2 yards allows for some nice size scraps to save. If you find three coordinating fabrics you could start with 1 yard each, but this is costly and leaves a lot of waste for one shirt. A better solution is to buy 3/4 - 1 yard for the body and 1/2 yard of the other two fabrics. Don't forget to check your stash to see if something you have been saving will go with a newly purchased piece.

If you are not sure which piece to use for the body follow this guide line. The bolder, larger print or pattern is best for the body. When you have no plan in mind but want to start a fabric stash just buy 1/2 yard pieces. The advantages to buying 1/2 yard pieces are lower cost, and you will be forced to be really creative. I rarely buy less than 1/2 yard pieces for several reasons. Many online companies will not cut less than 1/2 yard. Cuts less than 1/2 yard are often skewed and hard to use, especially if they come off the end of the bolt. Patterns with a long repeat don't allow enough of the pattern for strategic placement of pattern pieces.

Sources for fabrics are where ever you can find them. When I first started making knit garments I lived in southern California and had a store in my town that bought knit fabric from jobbers in Los Angeles. Many of the fabrics were from high end designers so I was very spoiled with both the selection and pricing. I could also easily drive to Los Angeles and shop the fabric district. If you are lucky enough to live near Los Angeles or New York you have access to wonderful garment and fabric districts. Sewing exposes are another great source for fabric but are once a year events.

When I moved to rural New Mexico I had to use my energy and creativity to find other sources for fabric. I found one outlet in Tucson and Phoenix but these were three and five hour drives for just so so fabric. Over time I learned to shop the internet. If you have a good knowledge of fabric you will soon learn to shop without the need to touch the fabric. You will make some mistakes but in a very short time you should be able to make purchases with confidence. The online stores I use have developed their own unique way to market fabric.

Once you have a nice collection of knit fabric, you may begin to look at combinations. You will need a vertical design board to move the fabric around. Fabric will look different if you lay it out on a cutting table. Experiment by arranging related pieces side by side, exposing larger or smaller areas of fabric to see what is pleasing to the eye. 

Drafting a Yoke On a Darted Pants Pattern

For years I have been making elastic waist pants, but decided I wanted a smoother look. I wear my tops on the outside of pants but feel there is excess bulk with the elastic waist. I have a skinny leg pant with a yoke and with fabrics with high spandex percentage I can make them minus the zipper and pull them on. My wider leg pattern is darted with a waist band and traditional fly front. The yoke style is more comfortable so I converted the darted pattern to a yoke pattern.

First, mark the yoke depth at the side seam and center seams. Trace around the pattern, including all markings. At center front (back) trace across waist from the side seam to the first leg of the dart. On the side seam trace up to the marking for the yoke depth.

_____________________________________________________________

Next, using your pencil tip or a pin at the dart apex pivot the dart to a closed position. Continue tracing from the closed dart around the waist and down to the point on the side seam where the yoke ends.

 ________________________________________________________________

I used blue for the yoke and green for the pants. You will need to smooth the lines with a curved ruler.

 ________________________________________________________

Add the appropriate seam allowance to the bottom of the yoke and the top of the pants.

_______________________________________________________

Using a separate piece of paper trace the yoke and label it. Once you cut out the yoke you can cut out the pants, ignoring the yoke markings or you can trace the pants also and save the draft. 

The final step is to walk the new seam lines and true the edges at the side seams only. Mark one notch in front and two notches in back to line up the yoke and pants seams. 

You can either cut the yoke as one piece placing CF on the fold or cut two pieces and seam the centers. It depends on whether you will be adding a zipper or not. With stretchy fabric these pants can be pull ons. I like to use an invisible zipper at the side seam when needed. 

Cut a facing for the yoke to finish. 

Using Scraps to Make Garments

Made a nice little cardigan from a bargain rib knit purchased at SAS in Tucson. Used scraps for trim. Used more scraps to make a T-shirt from some of  my other t-shirts. I serged 2" strips wrong side together. Then pressed all seams in the same direction. Sleeves and neck band are from a leftover piece of cardigan rib knit.

Folkwear French Cheesemaker's Shirt

 Made this night shirt from a luxurious Egyptian cotton from Emmaonesock. The weave of the cotton is either a twill or sateen. I tried to view it through my thread cound magnifying glass but couldn't determine the exact weave. It has a very smooth and soft shine on the surface. Even the selvedges were luxurious with the words egyptian cotton woven in. The extension is a piece of embroidered linen.

Fly Zipper tutorial

Making a fly zipper involves a number of steps but is worth the effort. These instructions are for a woman's fly front. Please note that I mixed up the fly placket and fly facing. I was concentrating on the photography and steps to make the instructions clear. To keep the two straight remember the fly placket goes on the left and is folded in half. The fly facing is cut single and is curved at the bottom.

 All seams allowances are 1/2 inch. Use a zipper foot to attach all pieces. Add a 1/2 inch extension to the left side of the the front leg when you cut out your pattern. Extension should measure 1 inch longer that zipper. Serge both sides of front crotch seams, including the extension.

Sew crotch seam to pin and back stitch.

Cut a fly placket and fly facing. Placket is on the left and facing is on the right. To make placket cut fabric 4 inches x the length of the zipper. Fold the fly placket lengthwise and serge the edges as shown. Cut the fly facing 2 inches x the length of the zipper. Round the bottom and serge edges as shown.

Place the zipper on the fly placket and sew on the tape closest to the serged edge.

Fold the extension on the left pant leg under 1/2 inch. This allows the zipper to sit back so it is not exposed when completed. Place the folded extension on top of the zipper and placket. Top stitch all pieces together. Stitch all the way to the end of the zipper

Fold the placket and zipper out of the way of the right hand seam.

Place the fly facing on the right pant side (right sides together) matching the seam edge and sew 1/2 inch seam allowance to pin and back tack.

Turn fly facing to inside of pant.

On the wrong side of fabric fold the fly placket out of the way and pin to secure while sewing the zipper to the  fly facing. You will not be sewing the zipper to the pant front until the next step. You can press the fly facing to the inside at this step.

Sew the zipper to the fly facing only.

Match the center fronts and pin to secure. Keep the fly placket pinned out of the way.

Sew 1 inch from center front to about 1 inch before end of zipper.

Unpin fly placket and place it over zipper. Sew a curved seam from seam opening to previous seam, overlapping stitches. 

Finished fly front.

Shades of Matisse

Something fun  and bright for summer. Fabric makes me think of Matisse.

Improving Your Quilting Skills

Improving Your Quilting Skills

By Donna Sebastian

My first quilt was a round robin friendship quilt. We all had the same instructions so our blocks should have matched. Sadly, when I began to assemble the quilt I discovered some blocks were off by as much as ½ inch. Blocks that were too big could be trimmed down but the odd assortment of sizes created a challenge to assemble. I struggled through and managed to put it together, but a lesson was learned. Blocks really need to be all one size. It took many more years to piece together enough information to allow me to approach quilting with the accuracy I wanted.

The Quilter

Many variables contribute to piecing a quilt accurately. The first variable is you the individual. Just how accurate do you want to be? I know quilters who literally count the number of machine stitches per seam. Others count the threads in the fabric. Another quilter I met used magic markers to touch up seams that showed through the fabric. These are extreme examples of perfecting a quilt project and you may or may not fit in this category. If you want this level of accuracy, be prepared to really work hard and above all learn as much as you can. Most of us will probably be happy with a little less attention to detail. As you make more quilts, your goals may change also. Before you begin quilting, decide just where you are on the continuum of accuracy and accept your abilities at that point. You may find that over time you become more demanding of yourself, but always accept where you are now. Finally, never ever point out your flaws or make excuses for your work. When your admirers praise your efforts, learn to say thank you, I really enjoyed working on this.

The Fabric

Understanding and choosing fabric is the first step once you have accepted your role in the quilting process. Not all fabric is equal. Another of my first projects was a quilted bargello jacket. The shop owner who taught the class was, of course interested in selling as much fabric as possible for the project. Because her shop was new and not well stocked, I found the selection insufficient for what I thought I wanted. I raided my garment stash, bought other fabric very unsuitable for quilting just to get the colors I wanted. This resulted in a lot of frustration on my part when I assembled the quilt sections. Another lesson learned, stick with one hundred percent cotton when starting out.

This is what you can expect if you buy one hundred percent cotton. Some fabric will be heavier or denser than other fabric. Some fabric is loosely woven and some is tightly woven. Other fabrics will shrink when laundered. Fabrics will be off grain, especially at the end of the bolt. All of these factors will affect your accuracy in some way.

Fabric is woven and has properties worth knowing. The long threads that run with the selvedge are the warp threads. These threads tend to have very little stretch. The threads that run perpendicular to the selvedge are called the weft. These threads will tend to stretch when handled. You can test this by holding a piece of fabric and pulling along each direction of the weave to see which has more give or stretch. Fabric can stretch when cut, sewn and pressed. The selvedge edge may draw up tighter than the fabric itself, especially if you launder the fabric. You may not even notice it until you begin to cut the fabric. To eliminate problems with the selvedge trim it off before working with your fabric. We will talk about how to tame the stretch and shrinking of fabric later.

Rulers and Measuring

A basic fact of measuring and cutting – the smaller the piece cut the more accurate you need to be.

Not all rulers are created equal. Before talking about rulers and measuring let us do a little experiment. You will need a ruler, a pencil, a sheet of paper, and a cutting device, either scissors or rotary cutter.

First draw a 2 inch square using the ruler. Label this square #1

Cut out the square. Be as accurate as you can.

Using square #1 trace a second square and cut it out. Label it #2.

Using square #2 trace a third square and cut it out. Label it #3.

Continue until you have 6 squares total. Always use the last square cut as your template for the next square.

Now place the #1 square on top of the #6 square. Are they identical or are they way off in size?

You have just experience the phenomena of compounding errors. Understanding rulers, measuring, and cutting can minimize this problem.

Rulers:

A basic set of starter rulers:

6 inch X 24 inch quilting ruler

6 inch X 12 inch quilting ruler

2 inch X 18 inch C-Thru ruler

Rulers are slippery so you will want to put a nonslip backing on all rulers. Quilt stores have materials that can be cut to size and adhered to the ruler. A do-it-yourself option is to cut ½ inch circles from fine grit sandpaper and glue them on about 6 inches apart with contact cement.

Quilt rulers and grids on cutting boards are wonderful for cutting but are not very good for accurate measuring. The thickness that makes them so wonderful for cutting distorts the line you are looking at for measuring. The other problem is the thickness of the line on the ruler. Do you cut to the right or the left or somewhere in the middle of the line? It is best if you try to use the center point of the line. A better ruler for measuring is a 2 inch X 18 inch ruler by C-Thru. These rulers are the ones to use for making templates, checking for accuracy, especially on small piecing. You will also want to use a .5 mechanical pencil to ensure consistency in the line width.

Many rulers start at the exact edge. Over time, the corners of the ruler can become worn or nicked. To measure a 2 inch line, place the 1 inch point of the ruler on the material and mark the 3 inch point.

Templates:

To make a template or anything else you will be tracing you will want to be consistent in how you hold the pencil. If you hold the pencil at a 90 degree angle to the paper along the side of the ruler the line may be off. It is better to hold the pencil at a 45 degree angle against the edge of the ruler. This undercut will be more accurate

A final word on measuring – rulers are only half of the equation. The eye of the individual is the other half. Some people have a better eye for detail than others. You can train your eye to see more accurately. The more you practice the better your eye for accuracy will become.

Cutting

Rules for cutting:

Measure twice, cut once

Never cut when you are tired

Never cut with a dull blade

Always cut off the black line

You may cut with scissors or a rotary cutter. We will only talk about cutting with a rotary blade. Blades come in various sizes. The ideal blade size is the quarter size blade. They are cheaper so you will be more inclined to use a fresh blade when the old one becomes dull. The smaller size blade is more stable than the larger blades. The larger blades tend to wobble when you put pressure on them. This creates uneven wear and dulls the blade faster.

You will want to cut with the fabric and ruler lined up so that you are cutting away from your body. This will be easy if you are cutting stripes. You just move the ruler over and cut another strip. Sometimes you will be cutting in several directions. Do not pick up the fabric to reposition for the second cut. Instead, have the fabric on a cutting board and turn the board to the position you need for cutting. When you pick the fabric up it can become distorted when you put it back on the cutting board.

Use the ruler sized for the cut you are making. Use large ruler for large cuts and small ruler for small cuts. Place your hand flat on the ruler with your fingers splayed out like an octopus to anchor the ruler. Pick up your hand and move it forward as you cut so that the section you are cutting is always opposite the hand anchoring the ruler. You may also place your forearm on the ruler to gain more distance when cutting long pieces. Try to cut only the length of the ruler. If your cut is longer than the ruler move the ruler, so that at least half of the ruler is lined up with the cut section. If you are having trouble cutting a folded piece of fabric open the fabric and cut one long strip. You must be extra careful when cutting a fold that the cut line is exactly perpendicular to the fold. To see what happens when your cut is not perpendicular fold a piece of paper in half and cut a slightly angled line from the fold. Open the paper to see the distortion. For the best accuracy hold the rotary cutter at a slight angle against the ruler, the same as you did with the pencil. You will be making a slight undercut.

If you suspect the blade is skipping it is time for a new blade. For best results you want to make one cut only. Once the cut is made, keep the ruler in place and gently move the scrap section away. This is the time to discover any skipped sections and correct them and change the blade.

When you are cutting a pattern or template it is important to cut away all of the black line. When you make the template, the ruler should be on the inside of the template and the line drawn to the outside of the template. No matter how skinny the line is it has thickness and will add size to the final cut.

Sewing

You have done everything so far to the best of your ability, so what could go wrong now? Your fabric will now be subjected to handling and manipulating that can undo all your best efforts of measuring and cutting. Rule # 1 – Handle the fabric as little as possible.

The sewing machine:

The sewing machine can be a brutal force in distorting your beautiful block. You line up the edges and set them under the pressure foot and sew away, only to discover that the opposite ends no longer meet. Home sewing machines are really bad at feeding the top and bottom fabrics unevenly as they sew. One remedy is to use a walking foot. Unfortunately, you must now eyeball the quarter inch seam allowance or put a piece of tape on the throat plate of your sewing machine. The sewing machine is not the only factor in misaligned seams. Remember all those fabric characteristics we talked about? Fabric that tends to stretch will tend to stretch more as it goes through the sewing machine. If you have a stretchy piece and a stable piece of fabric you will want to put the stable piece on top whenever possible to minimize stretching. Stretch comes from having a cut edge on the weft (selvedge to selvedge). It can also occur when triangles are cut. You now have a bias edge that can be really stretchy. Again, try to sew with a stable fabric on top and use a walking foot. If this is not possible or you find it too difficult to manage then starching the fabric will create a stiffness like paper that will keep the edges more stable. Basting is always an option and preferable to pinning. Basting is underrated and nothing to shy away from. It can be a really fast and effective way to tame a difficult situation.

Pins:

Sewing with pins will hinder your progress and cause more problems than they solve. Pins can nick your needle, distort the seam, and slow your progress. Pins do not work well with ¼ inch presser feet or walking feet. The best seam is one that is sewn in one long continuous motion with the least amount of handling the fabric. Learning to sew without pins is liberating and builds confidence. Confident quilters do the best work.

Sewing the seam:

To actually sew the seam line up the top edges, place under pressure foot and sew a few stitches. Stop and line up the bottom edges and hold them firmly together as you complete the seam. You may hold the fabric with just a wee bit of tension as you sew. Tension is not the same as stretching the fabric.

There are several ways to sew a ¼ inch seam. Whichever method you use always make a sample and measure for accuracy before proceeding.

Many machines have a line marking the ¼ inch line. Line up your fabric and sew a test seam. Press the seam flat and measure with the C-Thru ruler.

Measure out from the needle hole ¼ inch and place a strip of masking tape on the throat plate. The piece of tape should extend about 4 – 6 inches towards you and be perpendicular to the left to right edges of the throat plate. When sewing the seam you should be lining up the fabric several inches in front of the needle and presser foot. It is too late to line up once the fabric reaches the needle.

Use a ¼ inch presser foot. These special feet have a guide that keeps the fabric within the seam allowance. The guide can be a hindrance when joining seamed pieces together. You may need to stop and raise the presser foot before feeding the fabric through.

Remember, there is only one measurement for ¼ inch. There is no measurement for a scant ¼ inch. It either is ¼ or not. It is not worth the effort to try to figure out how big or little a scant is.

Stitch length:

The preset stitch length is generally the one to use. If you are finding that you rip out a lot of seams you may increase the stitch length. This makes it easier to take out stitches. As you improve you can go back to the preset stitch length. Occasionally, you may want a shorter stitch length for more precision work such as curves or really small pieces. Paper piecing also requires a shorter stitch lengthen. Shorter stitch lengths may cause the fabric to draw up making the seam length shorter. Make a 6 inch sample seam, press it flat and measure before using the shorter stitch length.

Things are going along smoothly but you decide something needs to be ripped out. This will also distort the seam edge. The best way to rip is to cut the top thread at one inch intervals. Then gently pull the bottom (bobbin) thread.

Pressing

Fact or myth about pressing – Never use steam when pressing a seam. This is definitely a myth. Fabric is fabric whether you are making garments or making a quilt. Correct pressing is important in all types of sewing. The same principals apply in all fabric pressing. To press a seam you place the iron on the seam and hold the iron in place. If you use steam, you allow the fabric to dry before handling. You do not move the iron back and forth. This will stretch the fabric. Most of the time, a hot, dry iron works. A dry iron works when the fabric is thinner and both pieces are the same weight. Heavier fabrics such as Kona cotton do not always respond to a dry iron and need the added boost of a shot of steam. The goal in pressing is to have the flattest seam possible.

Steps for pressing a seam:

With the seam still flat (not open) press to set the threads in the fabric. Do this on both sides of the two sewn quilt pieces.

Open the two pieces and finger press the seam to one side. Usually this is the side towards the darker fabric. To finger press either pinch the fabric between your fingers or lay the fabric on a flat surface and press with your fingers.

With the fabric face up press the seam flat with the iron. By having the fabric face up you can see if a small pleat is formed at the seam edge before you do the final pressing. If the padding on your ironing board seams too soft and the seam isn’t flat enough then you should press on a piece of wood covered with a press cloth.

Always do a test pressing to determine if you need steam or not.

If you used steam, set the piece aside to dry before using. The time to dry depends on your climate, dry or humid, and the amount of steam used.

Fudging

No matter how good you are there will come a day when things just do not fit. You can rip, take a break, or toss the project as hopeless. This day happens to the best quilters and is addressed with some simple fixes that throw out the rules.

The most common problem is the seam that does not match from end to end. You do not want to cut another piece because you do not know which piece is in error or you do not have enough fabric to cut another piece.

Fudging techniques:

Longer seams have more wiggle room. First, measure each piece and correct by cutting if one seam is too long.

When one seam is too short you can stretch it to fit the correctly cut seam. Sew with the short seam on top and stretch as you sew. Then press with steam to set the fibers.

In extreme cases when the cut is too short and there is no more fabric to recut, you can wet the fabric and stretch it to the desired size using your iron to set the threads. I heard a nationally known quilter openly admit to doing this on her award winning quilt.

You have carefully measured, cut, and sewn a 12 inch block with multiple pieces and the finished block does not measure 12 inches. After pressing it flat you can use a template to trim and true it up. You can also use a steam iron and stretch it to size.

You discover a tiny pleat on one piece. Open the seam several inches and stretch the shorter piece to match the longer piece that had the pleat. If the pleat is near an edge, open the seam, re-sew and trim the excess.

Scrap Designing

I save all my scraps that are at least a quarter of a yard. So, there is usually plenty to design new shirts. Sometimes I cut up the pattern to piece a new T and other times I piece the fabric first. Then I lay the pattern on the newly created fabric. I might even change my design once I start. The gray T was changed from the way I originally draped the fabric on my form.

Original Idea

Either  version would work.

Finished T-shirt

 

Sewn by Hand

This T shirt was sewn entirely by hand. I overlapped all seams 1/2 inch and pinned in place. I used a contrasting thread and sewed a double running stitch on all seams. Hems and neckline were sewn with a single running stitch. It took four evenings, watching Netflix to finish this. The green on the lavender is so much more interesting than if I had just run it through the machine with no detail.

The Knit with a Dart and More

I got a bit carried away with channeling Alabama Chanin http://alabamachanin.com/.  After adding a bust dart, adding 1/2 inch to the back below the armseye, and taking out about a 1/2 inch at the front hip line I had a pattern that seemed about right for my friend's new T. I used scraps from several solid shirts I made for myself earlier this season. (I love solid jewel tone shirts in the summer months.) To design my friends shirt I sewed the fabric pieces together first for a color block effect. I then positioned the pattern pieces for the best look. Initially I used the green for the neck band but didn't really like it. I thought it looked like a bowling shirt. Friends said they liked the green so maybe my judgement was off. I went with the peach color anyway. Next I decided to add some contrasting colored circles using a blanket stitch to applique them on. Now, I have a shirt the looks a bit clownish, which was confirmed by another friend. My friends seem to be doing a great job as a focus group - I just need to listen to them. I did achieve my goal to get a good fit for my friend. She said it was the best fit so far.